Immune Activation in the Pathogenesis of Dengue Virus Infection

By C.A.M. (Cornelia A.M.) van de Weg

Abstract

__Abstract__\ud
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Dengue virus (DENV) is a positive-stranded RNA virus and belongs to the Flaviviridae family. The virus\ud
is transmitted by the bite of an infected Aedes-mosquito and circulates in tropical and subtropical\ud
areas around the world. The incidence of dengue has risen dramatically over the past decades. For\ud
years, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated a worldwide incidence of 50-100 million infections\ud
per year. However, this estimation was based on a rather simplified model. A recent study\ud
using cartographic approaches suggested that 390 million infections occur annually. The majority\ud
of the infected population (75%) will not show any clinical symptoms, but they are a potential reservoir\ud
from which other people can get infected. It is estimated that 70% of the clinical apparent\ud
DENV infections occur in South-East Asia, most probably due to the high grade of urbanization in\ud
this area, providing a lot of breeding places for mosquitos [4]. Approximately 14% of the DENV infections\ud
with clinical symptoms occur in the Americas and 16% on the African continent